My thoughts and perspectives on health, science, and logic… Keep an open mind!

First off, sorry for taking so long to post another entry. Life gets hectic sometimes, but I’m sure everyone knows that. I’ve been working on other content for my site, and I hope to have additions to AT LEAST the Nutrition page up soon.

I also hope all of my fellow USA dwellers had a great (and safe) Fourth of July! I’m thankful to live in a place that allows me to have this website at all, and to pursue my education so that I may provide some knowledge to my readers. But, as July 4th is a national holiday in the USA, it brought with it one of the hallmarks of American celebration. Namely: FOOD!

I would bet that many people are already regretting their overindulgence in hot dogs, barbecue, and other tasty Independence Day fare. Especially since this holiday falls in the middle of beach season! As soon as the last bottle rocket fizzles out, people start scrambling to right the wrongs we committed at the picnic table.

In that vein, everyone seems to have a question about food and their weight. Am I too fat? Too skinny? What does BMI mean, anyway?!? Many of us live and die by the dreaded scale, while others don’t even bother with diet and exercise in the first place due to fear of never seeing the right numbers. While I’m by no means an expert on diet and nutrition, there are a few ideas that I think might be good to keep in mind. Let’s start with the first step. Stop, take a deep breath, and realize:

It’s ONLY a number!

Now before people get mad, let me clarify. Your weight can certainly indicate that you have gained or lost pounds, but without context, the readout on that scale is just a number. A number of other factors determine what meaning that number has. Until you have an idea of how much muscle and fat you have (as well as how much water you’re retaining and how much digestive content you might be carrying), you won’t have a complete picture of what your body weight actually means. So try to decide whether you have to lose fat, gain muscle, or both to reach your fitness goals. Remember what I said about knowing EXACTLY what you want your outcome to be? (Review S.M.A.R.T. principle!) Now that we’ve accomplished that, we need to:

Understand YOUR body!

Tied up in the concept of understanding whether you actually gain or lose weight is knowing your body. Everyone has different proportions. Just because you’re the same height as another person doesn’t mean you should be the exact same weight. Think about this for a minute, and it should make sense. Are her hips and shoulders set at the same width as yours? Does that guy carry as much weight in his legs as you do, or as little in his arms? How long are your limbs compared to someone else’s? And then, after this is all done, you must consider what kind of fat we’re talking about. Visceral fat (which lines your organs) has been linked to numerous diseases and health issues when found in excessive amounts. Subcutaneous fat, on the other hand, does not carry the same strong connections to health risks (though it’s what we worry about most, since it’s what we actually SEE). Once we take these things into account, the picture gets more complicated, doesn’t it?

A skinfold test is only as good as the person doing the pinching!

To have a more complete idea of your risk for heart disease and other ailments, it might be necessary to get some blood work done. Knowing your cholesterol levels and free fatty acid (FFA) blood content can give you a much better indicator of how healthy your system is than the old “pinch an inch” test. So get all of the facts, if you’re really wondering about your total health profile! Now one more big thing that I want to stress is this:

Find a way to live COMFORTABLY!

While most of us could use some improvements in the weight or health department, a lot of people take it overboard. They may set unrealistic goals. Remember that, more important than actually GETTING to your target weight or shape is STAYING there. If you had to go on a crash diet and be miserable for six months just to fit into that bikini, was it really worth it? As clichéd as it sounds, health is not a sprint. It’s a lifelong marathon. We get where we want to go by making tiny adjustments to our lifestyle over time. It doesn’t all happen overnight, and trying to force changes too quickly will USUALLY result in disappointment. So take your time, and find slow ways to adjust to healthier habits. Whether it’s cutting back on sodas this month, or jogging an extra 30 minutes a week before ramping it up again in the Fall, we must make the changes gradual. So shoot for something that you can maintain in a healthy and sane fashion. Remember:

QUANTITY of WEIGHT doesn’t always indicate QUALITY of LIFE

So eat well. Exercise. Get your rest. And most of all, enjoy it! A healthy life doesn’t happen all at once.